Kim Hee-Ae

I avoided this show for a long time due to the “noona romance” but finally gave in when I saw it pop up on Netflix. I’ve read a ton of reviews on it, raving about how sexy it was, how divine, how romantic and beautiful and so on. And it is all of those things. But it’s also incredibly demure. This show is such a tease!

I enjoyed Secret Love Affair. But I didn’t love it. I loved the music. I loved the cinematography. I loved the writer’s for leaving a great deal of the performances “unspoken” and giving the actors a chance to emote with their facial expressions. The husband, in particular, became more interesting due to his actions and reactions of the affair. What a complicated man. And yet I found most of the characters very unlikable. And tedious. And boring. And though our lead couple shared a connection through music, I couldn’t really understand what either of them saw in each other… except for the obvious cliches associated with a relationship with such a vast age difference.

Plot: Unhappily married woman in crappy job finds solace and escape in the arms of a struggling young piano prodigy. Both their lives become more complicated because of it. Subplot and perhaps moral of the story: Rich people are mostly jerks, but since a lot of people will do unethical and crappy things to get money, can we really throw stones in our glass houses? And do you even like your glass houses or have you just bought the lie?

Overall Rating – 8/10. A Major Musical Seduction and a Minor Romance in B Flat.